Piranesi

Susanna Clarke · b. 1959 · England

Why it matters

A diarist lives alone but for the occasional visitor in an infinite House of statues, tides, and clouds that he believes is the entire world, until clues suggest a hidden truth about his own identity. A spare, Borgesian mystery of dawning, unsettling recognition.

At a glance

Spare, precise prose is easy to follow, though its slow-dawning mystery rewards patience.